


Sometimes Knocking Your Friends Out is a Good Thing

by whatTheFuckIsThis



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 10:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18444992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatTheFuckIsThis/pseuds/whatTheFuckIsThis
Summary: Zari has been working for 26 hours, trying to figure out why Hank framed Mona, with no luck. But she’s too stubborn and much too caffeinated to take a break, so she makes some bad decisions.





	Sometimes Knocking Your Friends Out is a Good Thing

It was only noon, but Zari was already close to passing out from exhaustion. She’d been up since 10 am the previous day trying to hack into Hank’s computer. His phone had given her access to his calendar, cellphone records, spam emails, and credit card information, but nothing that told her why he tried to frame Mona. For that she’d need access to his encrypted hard drive.

Unfortunately for her, he was incredibly paranoid. His encryption was much heavier than the rest of the Bureau’s and even rivaled ARGUS’s, which had taken her months to hack.

It would take her weeks to find the files she needed from Hank’s hard drive, even if she had a full-night’s sleep and peace and quiet. But she had neither. Instead, she had a collection of crushed energy drink cans scattered around the lab and fifty unready messages from Nate.

She glanced at the most recent message.

_Any update? Having lunch w/Hank and I’m too pretty to be kidnapped ;)_

Zari let out a tired laugh, but didn’t respond. There weren’t any updates. She’d been staring at her computer screen for hours, trying to think of some vulnerability that would magically unlock Hank’s secrets but she was stumped.

None of her usual methods were working. He wasn’t opening any of her phishing emails or downloading anything off sketchy websites. With his monstrous number of security questions, fingerprint scanner, and voice recognition requirement, there was no way she’d be able to hack his passwords. The best thing she could do is wait for her programs to gain backdoor access, but even that wasn’t looking promising.

Aside from begging Charlie to shape shift into Hank to pass the biorecognition stages and letting Mick kidnap and torture Hank until he blurted out his security questions, she had nothing.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes. She could feel the caffeine starting to wear off but she had to stay focused. The team was counting on her. Mona was counting on her.

Zari reached past the stacks of paper she’d scribbled notes on and grabbed the energy drink. It felt lighter than she thought it would and-

And it was emptier than she’d hoped. She drank the last drop before sucking the air out of it with her totem and blowing it away from her.

“Gideon,” She croaked out and then coughed to clear her throat. “Can you have someone bring me some more caffeine? I’ll even take some of that weird powder John uses if he’s the only one available”

“That’s cocaine, Ms. Tomaz.”

“Cocaine sounds pretty good at the moment,” she muttered.

“Ms. Tomaz,” Gideon sighed. “As I told you earlier, I cannot allow you to have any more caffeine until what’s in your system has worn off.”

“And how long is that gonna take?”

“Well, within the past 17 hours you’ve consumed nine energy drinks, each containing 111 milligrams of caffeine, at a rate of roughly one can every two hours. Because caffeine has a half life of roughly 4 to 6 hours and your body-”

“Gideon, I’m too tired to do math right now.”

“I recommend 12 hours.”

“What?” Zari jumped up, knocking stacks of paper off the table and scattering them around her. She glared up at the speakers, before stamping off towards the exit. If Gideon wouldn’t help her, she’d just do it herself.

The automatic doors stayed shut, even as she stood right in front of them. She frantically pushed the manual override button they’d specifically installed for this purpose but nothing happened.

“You can’t just trap me in here!” She yelled as she tried unsuccessfully to pry the doors open.

“Apparently I can.”

“You cheeky fucking robot.”

Zari stomped back to her computer but she was too angry to work. All she needed was a few more hours of focus. Then she could break into Hank’s hard drive and they’d have their proof. Sara could show Ava that the danger was real and they could get back together. Mona would no longer be a fugitive and they wouldn’t have to hide from the Time Bureau. Nora could be released to the Legends for protective custody and Ray could stop freaking out over whether his sort of-girlfriend would be kidnapped. And Zari could finally clear things up with Nate.

All she needed to do was crack this.

She sat back down at her desk and tried to focus on the programs she was running. Nothing had changed since the last time she had looked. Zero vulnerabilities had been found. Hank hadn’t opened any of her emails. None of the viruses had been downloaded.

“Shit. Shit. Shit!” She yelled, getting louder with every word. “Gideon, I need to do something. You need to let me out of here.”

“You need to sleep. You can’t focus-”

“No, I just need to… I need to…”

“You need to sleep. I’ll wake you up if anything changes, Ms. Tomaz.” Gideon’s soothing tone was only pissing off Zari more.

If she hadn’t been so tired, she might have realized Gideon was right, but she was exhausted and jittery and angry at herself for failing at her resident-hacker position. So instead, she powered up her totem and sent a massive blast of wind towards the doors.

When they didn’t budge, she sent another, and another, and another, firing blasts off faster than she ever had. The wind slammed into the glass wall, shaking the entire room and turning the slight pain in her head into a migraine so painful it hurt to stand. She ignored the pain and Gideon telling her to stop acting like a child.

Eventually, she lost focus and the blasts of air were no longer just hiding the outside wall. She wrecked the miniaturization gun Ray was working on. The record collection Charlie kept in the far corner. Mick’s heat gun. Martin’s old workstation. The entire room looked like a tornado had blown through it, leaving only her computer untouched.

Before Zari could realize what she was doing and stop herself, a gas started to fill the room. Zari felt even more lightheaded than before. She struggled to stay on her feet and stay awake, but soon enough the gas won and she fell to the ground.

The lab was quiet now and from the outside Sara could see the damage Zari had done. Gideon only told her Zari was trying to break down the door a minute ago and in that time, Zari had ruined the entire lab. Sara would’ve been impressed if she hadn’t already been dreading begging Hank for a new lab.

“Can we go in now boss?” Mick asked from beside Sara.

Sara glanced at her watch and nodded. Enough time had passed for Zari to be knocked out and for them to be safe from the effect of the gas.

Mick scooped Zari up off the floor and carried her bridal style. Sara looked over at him, wondering why he didn’t just fling her over his should like last time, but she didn’t ask.

When they got to the med bay, Mick strapped Zari into one of the chairs and Gideon administered a sedative that would keep her asleep for at least ten hours.

“Thought Haircut would be the first one to snap,” Mick grunted.

“She’s just stressed. We all are. With everything going on…”

“Should’ve let me kidnap Hank. I bet he’s super fun to torture.”

“I’m starting to think you’re right about that, Mick.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse my piss poor knowledge of hacking. 
> 
> Feel free to leave a kudo and a comment, if you feel so inclined.


End file.
